 Rodgers and Hart were the first team in -which the lyricist received equal billing with the composer. Both were born in New York City. Rodgers attended Columbia University. He was largely a self taught pianist who by his own description didn’t play with any virtuosity. His father was a doctor and the family would see nearly every musical that would appear on Broadway when he was growing up. They encouraged him enthusiastically to be a composer when he displayed a talent for composing as a boy.
Hart was a self educated man with a vivacious personality. He was raised in an artistic and theatrical family environment. He was writing plays and lyrics when he was very young, having them staged every year at the summer camps he attended. Dick and Larry began to work together on amateur shows in 1919. Dick was 16 years old at the time and Larry was 23. They achieved their first professional success with The Garrick Gaieties (1925). During the 1920's and 1930's, Rodgers and Hart helped make musical comedy into a well-developed art form. The team produced its best work during that period and only Cole Porter rivaled Hart for satirical wit and freshness of rhymes. Hart and Rodgers moved to Hollywood in 1930 to compose for motion pictures. They returned to New York City in 1934 and resumed writing for the stage. These songs appeared in such musicals as, A Connecticut Yankee (1927),Jumbo(1935), On Your Toes(1936). Babes in Arms (1937), The Boys from Syracuse (1938 and Pal Joey (1940). | 
